Hi folks, I have a RIR hen that just started to lay. The strange thing is that all her eggs have a hole in them! They all have a hole in the same place,at the top part where that air pocket is. The membrane is not broken,so they are fine, right? (I've eaten a few already with no issues). But anyone know why this might be happening? here is a pic:
A hen squats when she lays her egg, like this: When an egg is laid it comes out fat end first, so if the damage is on the fat end (air pocket side) it looks to me like they fell onto something hard that cracked the shells. Since she's a new layer it's possible that her egg shell gland is still not working 100% yet, resulting on more fragile shells. But the shells will get stronger as she gets more experience laying. Make sure she gets enough calcium either in the shape of layer feed or with a supplement like crushed oystershells/egg shells.
Looks like pecking to me, too. Add some fake eggs or golf balls into their nesting box. They will attempt to peck at them, quickly learn it doesn't do anything. This should stop them from pecking the eggs.
Those are peck marks by an inquisitive chicken. I have one of those almost every day. I suppose it is because they have found a thinner shelled egg before and broke it open. It seems to happen in my nest boxes especially if I have younger pullets or cockerels hanging around where the girls are laying. As long as the membrane isn't broken, they are fine to use, at least I do, but those usually get fed back to the flock.
I think Sumi nailed it. Today since I was home I was hanging out with the chickens and noticed one of the other hens was in the nestbox. I heard this thump sound , and later the hen came out. So I looked inside and saw that the chickens had cleared out all the grass/leaves that I use for bedding in the middle of the box. So indeed the eggs and hitting the hard wood as they come out. So I repacked it with more leaves. Hopefully that will fix the problem. The interesting thing is that I have 4 nest boxes, but they all use the same one. I wonder why? The other three are just never used.
